RENAISSANCE MAN: DONATO BRAMANTE

fig 1: potrait of bramante

Donato Bramante (1444 – March 11, 1514) was an Italian architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St. Peter's Basilica.His real name was Donato d'Augnolo and he was born in Monte Asdruvaldo in Urbino, in July 1444. He trained as a painter in his hometown and studied under the Early Renaissance masters Mantegna and Piero della Francesca, who was interested as a painter in the rules of perspective.                                              

Around 1474, Bramante moved to Milan and built several churches. In 1477, he painted the façade of the Palazzo del Podesta, Bergamo which demonstrated an interest in architecture, as well as in perspective illusion.

In 1499 he went to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life. His Tempietto was the first masterpiece of the High Renaissance. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, he drew up plans for the immense Belvedere courtyard in the Vatican (begun c. 1505) and the new St. Peter's Basilica (begun 1506), his greatest work. These ambitious projects were far from complete when he died in 1514.

Despite the grand scale of the St. Peter's undertaking, Bramante worked on other projects and played an important role in Julius II's plans for rebuilding Rome.

TEMPIETTO

The Tempietto or "small temple" in Italian, built in 1502, is considered Bramante’s first masterpiece of High Renaissance architecture. It was built to mark the crucifixion spot of St. Peter in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome and was commissioned by Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

             Fig 2,3: Plan and section of tempietto

  

The chapel is a domed ro­tunda, 8m in daiameter and 13 high, sur­roun­ded by co­lumns. It is composed of two concentric cylinders--a wide low outer one and a tall narrow inner one. The circular plan symbolizes divine perfection.

 Unlike other fifteenth century Italian Renaissance architects who preferred the Ionic or Corinthian orders, Bramante uses the Roman Doric order with emphasis on the harmony of proportions, the simplicity of volumes and the sobriety of the Doric Order.

Fig.4 View of the Tempietto 

  

"For Bramante, the planning of the Tempietto must have represented the union of illusionistic painting and architecture he had spent his career perfecting. The building, too small on the inside to accommodate a congregation, was conceived as a 'picture' to be looked at from outside, a 'marker', a symbol of Saint Peter's martyrdom."— Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman.  

 PALAZZO CAPRINI (HOUSE OF RAPHAEL)

The Palazzo Caprini was designed by Bramante around 1505 for the apostolic protonotary Adriano de Viterbo Caprinis. It was later purchased by the artist, Raphael in 1517 and came to be known as the House of Raphael. On his death, at the end of the 16^th century, the building was incorporated in the Palazzo dei Convertendi and then finally demolished in the 17^th century

Fig.5 Façade of Palazzo Caprini

Built in the new street leading to the Vatican, it provided a perfect model for the small palaces needed at that time. With this building Bramante introduced  a move from three stories to two stories and the more extreme contrast in stories, according to use. Its sequence of rusticated ground floor with shops, applied Classical orders on the first floor and its innovatory use of stucco-covered brick influenced domestic architecture up to the 20th century. He engaged columns instead of pilasters, used balustraded balcony which enhanced the transition and built in, nearly indiscernible, string course seperating the ground level shop story.

In 1505, Pope Julius II, in order to glorify Rome, made a decision to demolish the old St Peter’s Basilica and replace it with something grander. Bramante won the competition that was held to design the new St Peter’s Basilica                    

 

Fig.6,7 Bramante’s Elevation and dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

The foundation stone of Donators Bramante design was laid in 1506. This plan was in the form of an enormous Greek Cross with a dome inspired by the Pantheon. The main difference between Bramante's design and that of the Pantheon is that where the dome of the Pantheon is supported by a continuous wall that of the new basilica was to be supported only on four large piers.

Bramante's dome was to be surmounted by a lantern with its own small dome. Bramante had envisioned that the central dome be surrounded by four lower domes at the diagonal axes. The equal chancel, nave and transept arms were each to be of two bays ending in an apse. At each corner of the building was to stand a tower, so that the overall plan was square, with the apses        projecting at the cardinal points.   

Pope Julius died in 1513 and Bramante was replaced. Major contributors were Raphael and Michelangelo and was completed in 1590 by Giacomo and Fontana.